Jeffrey Guy Grey (19 March 1959 – 26 July 2016) was an Australian
military historian
Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Professional historians norma ...
. He wrote two volumes of ''
'', and several other high-profile works on Australia's military history. He was the first non-American to become the president of the
Society for Military History
The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
, but is perhaps best known as the author of ''A Military History of Australia'' (first edition 1990).
Early life and education
Jeffrey Guy Grey was born on 19 March 1959, the son of
Ron Grey, an Australian Army officer and his wife Patricia. He had two sisters, Penny and Gina.
His family was a military one; his father eventually reached the rank of
major general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
, and two of his uncles became
brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
s. Raised as an
Army brat
A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revis ...
, he moved about frequently; but lived most of his early life in
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, where he settled. He entered the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
, from which he graduated in 1983, and joined the Faculty of Military Studies at the
Royal Military College, Duntroon
lit: Learning promotes strength
, established =
, type = Military college
, chancellor =
, head_label = Commandant
, head = Brigadier Ana Duncan
, principal =
, city = Campbell
, state = ...
, as a teaching fellow.
He completed his doctorate there under the supervision of
Peter Dennis
Peter John Dennis (25 October 1933 – 18 April 2009) was a Screen Actors Guild Award and Drama-Logue Award winning English film, television, theatre and voice actor. His extensive career spanned both sides of the Atlantic with projects ...
,
writing his 1985 thesis on "''British Commonwealth forces in the Korean War: a study of a military alliance relationship''".
Career
Grey joined the Historical Section of the
Department of Foreign Affairs, but returned to the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
at the new
Australian Defence Force Academy
The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Aus ...
(ADFA) campus in 1988, and became a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
there in 2003. Over the years he taught thousands of cadets and midshipmen, and supervised numerous postgraduate students. He wrote prolifically about the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. With Peter Dennis he wrote about the
Indonesian Confrontation
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
in ''Emergency and Confrontation'' (1996), a volume of ''
'', and was the sole author of another volume in the series, ''Up Top'' (1998), which detailed the role of the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
in the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
, the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War. He was perhaps best known as the author of ''A Military History of Australia'' (first edition 1990), a widely used single-volume textbook.
With his colleagues at ADFA, he produced the ''Oxford Companion to Australian Military History''. He wrote the volume on the Australian Army for the ''Oxford Australian Centenary History of Defence'', and the volume on ''The War with the Ottoman Empire'' (2015) for ''The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War'', a project for which he was a driving force. In cooperation with Peter Dennis and Roger Lee from the Army History Unit, he ran the annual Army History Conference, for which he managed to secure distinguished historians from around the world as speakers. For an Australian military historian, he was unusually well known outside Australia. He held the Major General Matthew C. Horner Chair of Military Theory at the
United States Marine Corps University
Marine Corps University is a professional military education university system of the United States Marine Corps. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Master's Degrees. ...
in
Quantico, Virginia
Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east a ...
, from 2000 to 2002, and in 2015 he became the first non-American to become the President of the
Society for Military History
The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
.
Grey died suddenly of a heart attack on 26 July 2016. A memorial service was held at the Anzac Memorial Chapel at Duntroon, conducted by
Tom Frame, the former Anglican Bishop of the
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...
. He was survived by his father Ron; sisters Penny and Gina; his first wife, Gina, and their daughter Victoria and son Duncan; his second wife, Emma and their son Sebastian; and his step-daughters Hannah and Sophie.
The October 2017 edition of ''The Journal of Military History'' was dedicated to Grey's memory, and featured several articles by or about him.
Published works
![Jeff Grey Memorial Service](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Jeff_Grey_Memorial_Service.jpg)
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References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Jeffrey
1959 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Australian historians
Australian National University alumni
Australian naval historians
Historians of World War I
Historians of World War II
People educated at Canberra Grammar School
University of New South Wales alumni
University of New South Wales faculty